About $700 million of funds may have moved through government agencies, banks and companies linked to 1MDB before apparently appearing in Najib’s accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday, citing documents from a government probe.
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The journal’s Hong Kong Bureau chief Ken Brown said they took the investigations very seriously as it involved accusations against a country’s top leader.
Najib’s political secretary Datuk Muhammad Khairun Aseh told the Sinar Harian Malay-language daily yesterday that the article was tantamount to criminal defamation and that the prime minister would take legal action against the WSJ.
Allegations made in the WSJ against Najib are as baseless as ex- Iraq president Saddam Hussein having “weapons of mass destruction”. “We are therefore surprised that documents such as these, whose existence and authenticity have not been publicly verified, continue to be used as a basis to create new unsubstantiated allegations against 1MDB”. NST said Justo “had been recently detained by Thai police over claims that he had attempted to blackmail his ex- employer using documents obtained during his time at the company”.
Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak reiterated that the false allegations against him were part of a concerted political campaign to topple a democratically elected Prime Minister and that he had never taken funds for personal gains. The investigation documents, reviewed by the Journal, didn’t provide the original source of the money or what happened to the cash after it allegedly entered Najib’s accounts.
Razak claimed that Mohamad then “recklessly” claimed that 42 billion Ringgit ($11.08 billion) was missing from state investment firm 1Malaysia Development Berhad [1MDB] when the debt was in fact audited, backed by 51 billion Ringgit in audited assets.
Investor confidence in Malaysia has been battered by growing scrutiny over Mr Najib’s management of debt-ridden 1MDB, whose advisory board he chairs. The central bank also declined to comment on the report.
“Therefore, it is my stance that the relevant investigative authorities, such as the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC), Bank Negara Malaysia, Royal Malaysian Police, with the cooperation of the Attorney-General’s (AG) Chambers, must act immediately to investigate all allegations made against Najib”, Muhyiddin had said in a statement earlier today. He said the investigation by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) should also be televised.
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“I affirm that on July 3, the special taskforce had sent their probe teams to SRC, Mentari and Ihsan Perdana”.
